Crazy Thought: Start Posey

I’m going to trash my own argument before I begin by saying you don’t toy with what has worked so far. Your starting 5 is your starting 5… so we’re throwing Rondo, Ray, Pierce, KG and Perk out there against Cleveland.

But my counterpoint would be that you are always making minor adjustment as needed… so long as you’re not screwing with the overall product. So therefore I submit my crazy idea: Start James Posey.

Consider this my attempt at being Belichickian… who will always attempt to take away your greatest strength and roll the dice on the weak link beating you. Cleveland’s greatest strength is LeBron James… and starting Pose would let him cover LeBron from the outset. Posey’s our best defender… and he’s pretty good from the outside… so he’s still a bit of an offensive threat. And Ray would still get his 35 minutes or so… but he’d be the fresh anchor of our second team. He’d essentially be our Ginobili. Maybe… just maybe… this could force LeBron to do something different. OR… it could force Mike Brown to do something he didn’t want to do.

This, of course, would be something you cleared with Ray. There’s a stigma with coming off the bench. People will say “oooh…. Ray got benched” and they’d throw up his poor shooting numbers against the Hawks. That’s not what this is about. It’s about slowing LeBron down… forcing him to change his game ever so slightly… and maybe get off to a hot start.

You know… while we’re at it… you’d have to clear this with Paul Pierce… because he’s the guy getting pulled off his defensive assignment.

I know this won’t happen… and I know there will be plenty of disagreement. Hey… I’m not 100% behind this idea either… but its something that crossed my mind… so I figured I’d throw it out there.

13 Responses

Well, it’s not going to happen, but that’s not a bad idea. Here’s a better one:
Spread the fouls LeBron will draw (and there will be many, if you thought the officiating in the Hawks series was poor) out among our players by playing team defense, especially Perk. I think we should put Perk on the strong side whenever LeBron has the ball, to protect KG. If Ray and Rondo stay with their “shooters” (that’s what we’re calling Wally now?) and help comes from the big men, then LeBron will be forced to make more difficult interior passes.

On the other end, tell Pierce to attack LeBron early and often, either the King will step aside and let Pierce score, or he’ll commit a foul.

He can’t hurt us when he’s on the bench.

William - May 5, 2008 at 10:16 am

I love the idea. Anything to make Mike Brown think. He makes Doc look like Red.

Yeah I’d be on board with that as well. But like you said, the best team in the regular season probably shouldn’t tinker with what got them there.

Do you think Ray should have played more garbage time minutes to get his shot/confidence back against live (barely) comp? Or is he better off resting because his OCD ass is probably going to be on the floor shooting all day today and tomorrow anyway?

Dave - May 5, 2008 at 11:32 am

It’s not that crazy. But I would wait until game 4 to experiment with the lineup…if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. If Ray can pick up his offense and Paul is defending LeBron well, then leave it alone. If not, starting Posey might be the best idea.

I agree with William too. Attack LeBron early and often, get him tired or in foul trouble and the Cavs will meltdown. But I still don’t see Cleveland being a big threat even with King James in the game.

I bleed green in L.A. - May 5, 2008 at 12:18 pm

No way! I like the Idea but Ray is not just a Star he’s a Superstar. So Demoting him even for just a game or two would be bad, even if he agrees cuz I’m sure he will for the “team” but it wouldn’t be too good for his ego & status around the league. & that ego is important because he is very important to this team.

G4L - May 5, 2008 at 12:19 pm

Perk was a beast yesterday, but what about replacing Perk with Posey and leaving Ray in there. That’s the lineup they have down the stretch in most games… why not start it that way. KG can handle big Z. Wallace vs. Pierce would be the only awkward matchup for the C’s, but I think Pierce could handle it.

Tim (FD) - May 5, 2008 at 12:35 pm

My real concern there is the fact that the Cavs are such a good rebounding team.

Posey starting for Ray Allen is definitely not a crazy idea. People get too caught up on who gets the official title as “starter.” Look at the most recent three dynasties and the players that could have been starters: Bulls: Tony Kukoc; Lakers: Robert Horry; Spurs: Manu Ginobili. Kukoc was the third leading scorer on the Bulls (behind Jordan and Pippen) and Ginobili even has been the Spurs leading scorer!

LeviStanford - May 5, 2008 at 2:09 pm

You cannot compare Ray Allen to Robert Horry and Toni Kukoc. Cannot do it. I think Ray has performed below par this year, but that is something that can’t be done.

Tim (FD) - May 5, 2008 at 2:27 pm

I wasn’t comparing Ray as a player to them. I was just showing that other teams that have won at least three championships recently have had big time contributors that would have been starters on probably any other team in the league that time. I’m just showing that it’s not a huge crime to have a big time player come off the bench.

LeviStanford - May 5, 2008 at 3:54 pm

Not a crazy thought at all. In fact, I was lobbying for this very thing during the Game 7 game-thread against the Hawks. The concept now appears to have the momentum of a runaway freight train. Unfortunately, we know Doc will never do it.

My concern is the loose balls. They are a good team when it comes to getting the lose balls and week side rebounds. I think our bench is going to be HUGE in this series, Powe, Big Baby, and even P J Brown were going to need all the big bodys we have. If PP continues to drive to the hoop he will cause them big problems, I love when he drives to the hoop and I know Tommy does too. I have a feeling Ray Ray is going to have a big series as well.

ssshady35 - May 6, 2008 at 4:48 am

Wallace has NO offensive skills so we don’t have to worry about him hurting us on the offensive end, if he had to guard PP I think Pierce would get him in foul trouble very fast or just score on him. However I don’t like KG guarding Big Z, Z has a lot of upfakes and I would not want KG to get in any foul trouble in the first half. Keep Perk on Z he did a great job the last series especially game seven hope he caries that into this series.